Echinococcosi cistica nell'area di Rieti: conoscenza del fenomeno e proposta di un modello di valutazione dei rischi per i lavoratori del settore zootecnico

Human cystic echinococcosis (CE), also known as hydatid disease, is an helminthic zoonosis caused by infection with the larval stages of the cestode parasites Echinococcus granulosus. CE continues to represent a global health hazard affecting approximately over 1 million individuals worldwide. Indeed, Echinococcus granulosus infection is globally distributed and found in every continent, except Antarctica. In endemic regions, human incidence rates for CE can reach greater than 50 per 100,000 person-years, and prevalence levels as high as 5–10% may occur in parts of Argentina, Peru, east Africa, central Asia and China. Echinococcus granulosus may cause illness in intermediate hosts, generally herbivorous animals and people who are infected accidentally. Workers such as slaughters, tanners, stockbreeders, shepherds, butchers, veterinarians are supposed to be at higher risk of the infection. The present study aims to evaluate the seroprevalence of CE in workers exposed and in blood donors, and to determine the prevalence of occupational and non-occupational risk factors associated with CE infection in both groups. A cross-sectional study was conducted in a central region of Italy (Latium) in the period from September 2015 to September 2016. It included 177 workers exposed to biological risk of the Echinococcus granulosus infection (shepherds) and 192 apparently healthy blood donors selected from the same geographical area. General and medical information, including job history, occupational and non-occupational risk factors were collected using specific questionnaire. Human sera from shepherds and donors were sampled and analyzed using a commercially available enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Seropositive samples were further analysed by Western blotting. Logistic regression was performed to evaluate the potential risk factors associated with the presence of antibodies. The results showed that 18 subjects (4.88%) were ELISA seropositive. High seropositivity was recorded in workers (5,65%), followed by the donors (4.17%). Only one seropositive sample was confirmed by Western blotting. The Individual Risk Score (IRS), based on sum of occupational and non occupational risk factors, was associated to seropositivity (P=0.000 8; OR=1.889; 95% CI=1.689-2.113). The results of this study reinforce the necessity to implement the prevention of risks at workplace, with special reference to the biological risk, using appropriate tools for the identification and the assessment of hazards combined with public health education and information

Anisakiasis in italy: analysis of hospital discharge records in the years 2005-2015

Background Anisakiasis is a fish-borne zoonosis caused by the ingestion of marine food infected with Anisakis third-stage larvae, widespread marine parasitic nematodes. Gastrointestinal and/ or allergic clinical signs and symptoms are not specific. While frequently reported in countries with large raw fish consumption as Japan, the global prevalence of anisakiasis may be severely underestimated due to limitations of available diagnostic tools and to diverse clinical manifestations. Recently, infective larvae were found in the same localization with gastrointestinal tumors. The occurrence of allergic exacerbation upon secondary exposure and the possible occupational exposure, highlight the need to increase scientific evidences on anisakiasis. Methods We performed a retrospective descriptive study using analysis of Hospital Discharge Records (HDRs) from 2005 to 2015 in Italy, with particular attention to allergic manifestations. Descriptive statistics and multivariate analyses were performed using backward step-wise logistic regression models to assess spatial distribution and temporal trend as well as the variables independently associated with the allergic clinical signs and symptoms in Italian cases of anisakiasis. Results HDRs reporting the ICD-9 code for anisakiasis were retrieved (370), with a higher number of cases reported from central and southern regions, with particular regard to populations inhabiting the coastal territories. Around 40% of patients presented allergic manifestations and half of them showed serious allergic reactions. The multivariate analyses showed an independent association between allergic manifestations and features as living in southern regions and female gender, while anaphylactic episodes was independently associated only with female gender. Conclusion The present study is the first attempt to a better understanding of the epidemiological picture of anisakiasis in Italy, mining official data. A common strategy on data collection, monitoring and reporting would favor a more accurate epidemiological scenario in Italy, since the report of the diseases is not mandatory

Occupational safety and health education and training: an innovative format and experience

Health begins at home and in community where people live and work, in fact, the World Health Organisation (WHO) defines health as ‘a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being’. Experts and professionals, of all sectors and specialities, need to take account the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) in all aspects of their working lives. Mainstreaming OSH into education concerns integrating one policy area – OSH – into another – education. This study started from a first analysis of an international and national OSH training offer, in which  some critical aspects emerged: there are mostly sectoral training courses, qualifying some prevention actor roles, most linked to traditional risks, and primarily focused on the safety aspects rather than the health ones. The current study is related to an innovative format and experience for an integrated management of OSH in the evolution of the world of work. The concept was born from the need to train new professionals figures when the rapid demographic changes and technological innovation are changing the working world and therefore also the required skills to prevention actors. A first test has been conducted on 26 students who attended the first edition of this innovative training. Iavicoli, S.; Pietrafesa, E.; Martini, A.; Simeone, R.; Polimeni, A. (2020). Occupational safety and health education and training: an innovative format and experience. En 6th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'20). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. (30-05-2020):333-341. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAd20.2020.11051OCS33334130-05-202

Modelling the Frequency of Interarrival Times and Rainfall Depths with the Poisson Hurwitz-Lerch Zeta Distribution

The Poisson-stopped sum of the Hurwitz-Lerch zeta distribution is proposed as a model for interarrival times and rainfall depths. Theoretical properties and characterizations are investigated in comparison with other two models implemented to perform the same task: the Hurwitz-Lerch zeta distribution and the one inflated Hurwitz-Lerch zeta distribution. Within this framework, the capability of these three distributions to fit the main statistical features of rainfall time series was tested on a dataset never previously considered in the literature and chosen in order to represent very different climates from the rainfall characteristics point of view. The results address the Hurwitz-Lerch zeta distribution as a natural framework in rainfall modelling using the additional random convolution induced by the Poisson-stopped model as a further refinement. Indeed the Poisson contribution allows more flexibility and depiction in reproducing statistical features, even in the presence of very different climates

Applying different methods to model dry and wet spells at daily scale in a large range of rainfall regimes across Europe

The modelling of the occurrence of rainfall dry and wet spells (ds and ws, respectively) can be jointly conveyed using the inter-arrival times (it). While the modelling of it has the advantage of requiring a single fitting for the description of all rainfall time characteristics (including wet and dry chains, an extension of the concept of spells), the assumption on the independence and identical distribution of the renewal times it implicitly imposes a memoryless property on the derived ws, which may not be true in some cases. In this study, two different methods for the modelling of rainfall time characteristics at station scale have been applied: i) a direct method (DM) that fits the discrete Lerch distribution to it records, and then derives ws and ds (as well as the corresponding chains) from the it distribution; and ii) an indirect method (IM) that fits the Lerch distribution to the ws and ds records separately, relaxing the assumptions of the renewal process. The results of this application over six stations in Europe, characterized by a wide range of rainfall regimes, highlight how the geometric distribution does not always reasonably reproduce the ws frequencies, even when it are modelled by the Lerch distribution well. Improved performances are obtained with the IM, thanks to the relaxation of the assumption on the independence and identical distribution of the renewal times. A further improvement on the fittings is obtained when the datasets are separated into two periods, suggesting that the inferences may benefit for accounting for the local seasonality.Comment: 28 pages, 11 figure

Coming AUTH. Per una bonifica e implementazione dell’authority file di SBN

The Coming AUTH project is about the enrichment and deduplication of authority data in SBN catalogue; the project will have both a professional procedure and a social one. Thanks to the cooperation between ICCU and AIB Lazio, the first one involves young professionals, and the choice of the data to be enriched will be decided later on. The second one will take advantage of services like Wikimedia Mix’n’match, and will be open to everyone; anyone could register and then try to match the names of different entities.In doing so, we will be able not only to clean and enrich the authority data, but also to improve the visibility of the SBN catalogue and the participation of users to its improvement

Coming AUTH. Per una bonifica e implementazione dell’authority file di SBN

The Coming AUTH project is about the enrichment and deduplication of authority data in SBN catalogue; the project will have both a professional procedure and a social one. Thanks to the cooperation between ICCU and AIB Lazio, the first one involves young professionals, and the choice of the data to be enriched will be decided later on. The second one will take advantage of services like Wikimedia Mix’n’match, and will be open to everyone; anyone could register and then try to match the names of different entities.In doing so, we will be able not only to clean and enrich the authority data, but also to improve the visibility of the SBN catalogue and the participation of users to its improvement

Nocturnal Heart Rate Variability Might Help in Predicting Severe Obstructive Sleep-Disordered Breathing

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) can have long-term cardiovascular and metabolic effects. The identification of OSA-related impairments would provide diagnostic and prognostic value. Heart rate variability (HRV) as a measure of cardiac autonomic regulation is a promising candidate marker of OSA and OSA-related conditions. We took advantage of the Physionet Apnea-ECG database for two purposes. First, we performed time- and frequency-domain analysis of nocturnal HRV on each recording of this database to evaluate the cardiac autonomic regulation in patients with nighttime sleep breathing disorders. Second, we conducted a logistic regression analysis (backward stepwise) to identify the HRV indices able to predict the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) categories (i.e., "Severe OSA", AHI ≥ 30; "Moderate-Mild OSA", 5 ≥ AHI < 30; and "Normal", AHI < 5). Compared to the "Normal", the "Severe OSA" group showed lower high-frequency power in normalized units (HFnu) and higher low-frequency power in normalized units (LFnu). The standard deviation of normal R-R intervals (SDNN) and the root mean square of successive R-R interval differences (RMSSD) were independently associated with sleep-disordered breathing. Our findings suggest altered cardiac autonomic regulation with a reduced parasympathetic component in OSA patients and suggest a role of nighttime HRV in the characterization and identification of sleep breathing disorders